The theme of this year's Economic Development Summit, put on by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, was Sunrise on Sunset. It focused on all the development going on in Hollywood with special focus on Sunset Blvd. The amount of development that is happening is truly staggering (see map after the jump).
This year's event was held in the Arclight Theater (pictured here). It was a sea of dark suits and tall, handsome people. Truly the "powers" of Hollywood and Los Angeles. I attended this summit last year (read my post from last year here) and I felt more at ease in this group this year. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But I have to tell you, I love this city! I love Hollywood! In spite of all it's problems, Hollywood inspires me in so many ways. It holds so much promise for the world because this city is truly a microcosm of the whole world.
One of the most thrilling moments of the entire summit, for me, came at the very end when Gail Goldberg, the relatively new Director of the City's Planning Department, shared some of her recent work in organizing the planning department around what she imaginatively calls, "Real Planning." The not-so-subtle implication in that is the reality that Los Angeles has never done real planning. I will put some links below, after the jump, to some documents that the planning department has recently produced. These are vitally important to understand as we continue our church's work in the community.
She referred to Los Angeles as "the last, great, large unfinished city!"
She said that...
...in the past "planning has focused on making LA a better place...for our cars."
...the mission of the planning department isn't to create plans, but to create neighborhoods.
...in LA you can't find these two words together: URBAN DESIGN. This is a chance for us to focus on urban design for the first time.
To really capture the vision you need to download and read the 14-point plan.
Especially as we are thinking about the way God is leading us to utilize the property we have, we need to understand the direction that the planning department is headed. I happen to think that Gail Goldberg's vision is beautiful. It is a sign of God's kingdom. I don't say that lightly. And I didn't say that Gail Goldberg's vision IS God's kingdom. But to me it points to God's kingdom.
Do Real Planning! | 14-point Plan, Department of City Planning (PDF)
City Planning Strategic Plan (PDF)
This is the map of all the development planned for Hollywood in the next few years. I'm sorry I couldn't get a picture of what all these numbers refer to, but you get the idea (click to enlarge)...
Comments